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Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
CHAPTER 13
COMMUNICATION IN PSYCHOLOGY
CHAPTER OUTLINE AND OBJECTIVES
The goal of this chapter is to inform students about how researchers communicate in psychology. We are
convinced that the best way to do this is to have students participate actively in the research process by
constructing a research plan, gathering data, doing analyses, and “writing up” their findings using APA
format. Many suggestions for student research projects are found in the instructors’ materials provided for
earlier chapters. We provide in the Test Bank a small sample of multiple-choice questions for instructors
who wish to assess whether students have read Chapter 13. However, we believe the best way to
determine whether students have read and digested this material is to evaluate their “APA-style
manuscripts” describing a completed research project.
Please note that the material describing APA format is based on the sixth edition of the Publication
Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA, 2010).
Users of previous editions will recognize that the text no longer has a “sample manuscript” at the end of
the Communication in Psychology chapter. APA has restricted use of material found in the Publication
Manual so that formatting instructions are not to appear in textbooks. The APA website has extensive
information available to students as they prepare a manuscript using APA format: www.apastyle.org
[Note. Chapter 13 does not have bullet points or key concepts.]
I. Introduction
II. The Internet and Research
III. Guidelines for Effective Writing
IV. Structure of a Research Report
A. Title Page
B. Abstract
C. Introduction
D. Method
E. Results
F. Discussion
G. References
H. Footnotes
I. Appendices
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Copyright © 2015 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior
written consent of McGraw-Hill Education.
V. Oral Presentations
VI. Research Proposals
ISSUES AND PROBLEMS FOR CLASS DISCUSSION
The following problems may be used to help students learn APA-format requirements. Specifics of APA
format are not presented in the text, but may be found in the Publication Manual of the American
Psychological Association, 6th edition (APA, 2010), or in the APA website: http://www.apastyle.org
I. APA Format
Identify seven APA-format or grammatical errors in the following brief paragraph:
The 20-item Positive and Negative Affect Scales (PANAS; Watson, Clark, & Tellegen) is a list of ten
PA and ten NA adjectives that participants’ rate according to how they generally feel (1 = very slightly
or not at all, 5 = extremely). In contrast to Watson, Clark, and Tellegen’s findings, the PA and NA
scales were negatively correlated in the present sample, r(120) = -.37, p < .001.
Answer: There are 7 errors: (1) the year (Watson, Clark, & Tellegen, 1988) is missing in the citation in
the first sentence; (2) “ten” should be written as 10 in the first sentence; (3) the abbreviations, PA and
NA, should be preceded by the full names of their referents, Positive Affect (PA) and Negative Affect
(NA); (4) the apostrophe at the end of participants is incorrect for this use; (5) the anchors of the
rating scales should be in italics in the first sentence; (6) the citation in the second sentence should
be written as Watson et al.’s findings; and (7) the statistical terms, r and p, should be in italics in the
second sentence.
II. APA References
Use the information in Parts A-E to write five references and then place them in the correct order as
they should appear in the References section of an APA-format manuscript.
A. Author: Emil J. Posavac
Title of book: Program Evaluation
Year: 2011
Edition: Eighth
Publisher (and location): Prentice-Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ)
B. Authors: David G. Myers and Ed Diener
Title of article: Who Is Happy?
Journal title: Psychological Science
Volume number: 6
Year: 1995
Pages: 10-19
C. Authors: Timothy B. Baker, Richard M. McFall, and Varda Shoham
Title of article: Current Status and Future Prospects of Clinical Psychology: Toward a
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Scientifically Principled Approach to Mental and Behavioral Health Care
Journal title: Psychological Science in the Public Interest
Volume number: 9
Year: 2009
Pages: 67-103
doi: 10.1111/j.1539-6053.2009.01036.x
D. Authors: M. Jane Riddoch and Glyn W. Humphreys
Title of chapter: The Smiling Giraffe: An Illustration of a Visual Memory Disorder
Editor of book: Ruth Campbell
Title of book: Mental Lives: Case Studies in Cognition
Year: 1992
Publisher (and location): Blackwell (Oxford)
Pages: 161-177
E. Authors: National Center for Health Statistics
Title: Health, United States, 2006
Year: 2006
Retrieval date: August 14, 2008
Website: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fegi?rid=healthus06.chapter.trend-tables
Answer:
A. Posavac, E. J. (2011). Program evaluation. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
B. Myers, D. G., & Diener, E. (1995). Who is happy? Psychological Science, 6, 10-19.
C. Baker, T. B., McFall, R. M., & Shoham, V. (2008). Current Status and Future Prospects of Clinical
Psychology: Toward a Scientifically Principled Approach to Mental and Behavioral Health
Care. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 9, 67-103. doi: 10.1111/j.1539-
6053.2009.01036.x
D. Riddoch, M. J., & Humphreys, G. W. (1992). The smiling giraffe: An illustration of a visual
memory disorder. In R. Campbell (Ed.), Mental lives: Case studies in cognition (pp. 161-177).
Oxford: Blackwell.
E. National Center for Health Statistics. (2006). Health, United States, 2006. Retrieved August 14,
2008, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/bv.fegi?rid=healthus06.chapter.trend-tables
The correct order is C, B, E, A, D.
INSTRUCTOR’S LECTURE/DISCUSSION AIDS
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The following pages describe content from Chapter 13 and may be used to facilitate lecture or discussion.
1. Communicating the Results of a Research Study: This page describes peer review and introduces
APA format.
2-3. Guidelines for Effective Writing: These two pages describe nine principles for writing a research
report.
4. Structure of a Research Report: This page lists the sections of an APA-format research report.
5-8. APA-Style Research Report: These four pages identify the essential components of the sections in an
APA-format research report.
9. Oral Presentations: Guidelines for preparing an effective oral presentation are identified on this page.
10. Research Proposals: The basic elements of research proposals are described on this page.
11. APA-Format Check: This page presents sentences with APA-format errors for students to find and
correct.
12. APA-Format References: This page presents information for references that students can re-arrange
to write APA-format references.
13. A Few Common Grammatical Errors: This page presents five common grammatical errors for
students to find and correct.
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Communicating the Results of a Research Study
• Culmination of a research study
▪ Communicate findings
o At a research conference
o In a psychology research journal
• Submit research manuscript for peer review
▪ Does the research warrant publication?
▪ Peer review decides
o Quality and contribution of the research
o Effectiveness of the presentation
• APA Format
▪ Standard style/format for written research reports
▪ Publication Manual (2010) of the American Psychological Association
(APA, 6th edition).
▪ Online resource: http://www.apastyle.org
• Important: Students must not submit class research projects or other
manuscripts for publication unless supervised by an instructor or
research mentor.
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Guidelines for Effective Writing
• Know Your Audience.
▪ If you assume your readers know more than they do, they’ll be
confused.
▪ If you underestimate your readers, they’ll be bored
▪ Err on the side of underestimating your readers.
• Identify Your Purpose.
▪ Use expository writing.
▪ Principal purposes: describe and convince
• Write clearly.
▪ Foundation of good expository writing: clarity of thought and
expression
▪ Work and re-work sentences for clear, logical flow of ideas
• Be concise.
▪ Say only what needs to be said.
▪ Short words and short sentences are easier to understand.
▪ Decrease wordiness through several revisions.
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Guidelines for Effective Writing, continued
• Be precise.
▪ Choose the right word for what you want to say.
o especially for psychological concepts
• Follow grammatical rules.
▪ Poor grammar distracts reader and introduces unnecessary
ambiguity.
▪ Grammatical errors decrease your credibility.
• Write fairly.
▪ Avoid words and sentences that are biased.
o e.g., bias when referring to gender, racial or ethnic group, age
▪ Avoid the term “subjects” when describing human participants.
• Write an interesting report.
▪ Present ideas and findings directly, but in an interesting and
compelling manner.
▪ Make your writing reflect your involvement with the research problem.
▪ Strive to tell a good “story” about your research.
o However, this is not an exercise in creating writing.
• Read journal articles to help develop your own writing skills.
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Structure of a Research Report
• An APA-format research report consists of the following sections
(the main body of the report is in bold)
Title Page (with Author Note)
Abstract
Introduction
Method
Results
Discussion
References
Tables (if any)
Figures (if any)
Appendices (if any)
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APA-Style Research Report
• Title Page
▪ Title of the research project
o Concise statement of main topic of research
o Identify key variables (IVs, DVs) or theoretical issues
▪ Authors’ names and affiliations
▪ Author Note
▪ Short title and page number
• Abstract
▪ One-paragraph summary of the research
▪ Four main elements
o Problem under investigation
o Key features of method
o Major findings
o Conclusions and implications of the findings
▪ Write the Abstract last!
• Introduction
▪ Three primary objectives
o Introduce problem being studied and why it’s important
o Summarize relevant background literature and theoretical
implications
o Describe purpose, rationale, and design of present study with
logical development of hypotheses
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APA-Style Research Report, continued
• Method
▪ Purpose: to describe in detail how the study was conducted
▪ Based on Method section, a reader should be able to replicate the
study.
▪ Three most common subsections
o Participants
o Materials (or Apparatus)
o Procedure
▪ Participants
o Total number of participants
o Major demographic characteristics
o Procedures for recruiting and compensation
o Number in each condition
o Describe any attrition
▪ Materials
o Describe any materials critical to the study variables
▪ Procedure
o Most critical component of the Method section
o Describe what happened from the beginning to the end of the
session(s).
o Include enough detail so essential aspects of your study could be
replicated.
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APA-Style Research Report, continued
• Results
▪ Climax of the report—the actual findings of the study
▪ Answer the research questions raised in the introduction
o Stick to the facts
o Leave any interpretation of the findings for the Discussion
▪ Structure of a typical paragraph
o Purpose of the statistical analysis
o Descriptive statistics to summarize results
o Results of confidence intervals, effect sizes, and inferential
statistics.
o State conclusion that follows from each statistical procedure.
• Discussion
▪ Clear and concise statement of the essential findings
▪ Clear presentation of how the findings support or refute hypotheses
▪ Description of how results compare to previous research
▪ Limitations or problems in the research
▪ Specific ideas for additional research
• References
▪ Complete citation for each source cited
▪ List in alphabetical order
o according to the last name of the first author
▪ Follow APA format precisely
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APA-Style Research Report, continued
• Footnotes
▪ Rare in research manuscripts
▪ Two types
o Copyright permission
o Content footnotes that supplement or expand text material
▪ All footnotes appear on a separate page following References section
o Not at the bottom of manuscript page
• Appendices
▪ Rare in published research reports
▪ May be required for class research projects
▪ Sometimes used to
o Reprint verbatim copy of instructions to participants
o Provide exact copy of particular materials
• Tables and Figures
▪ Any Tables and Figures cited in text are attached at end of the
manuscript
▪ Only 1 Table or Figure per page
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Oral Presentations
• The audience wants to know
▪ What you studied and why
▪ How you went about the research
▪ General description of procedures
▪ What you discovered
▪ Why your results are important
• Five Principles for Effective Oral Presentations:
▪ Avoid telling everything you know in 10 minutes.
o Stick with only a few main points
▪ Cultivate a good “stage” presence.
o Speak loudly, clearly; use simple, direct sentences.
o Avoid reading your presentation.
▪ Use effective visual aids.
o Self-explanatory, easy-to-read
▪ Leave time for questions.
o Allows opportunity for audience to engage in presentation
▪ Practice before an interested, critical audience.
o Get feedback from others who can provide encouragement, point
out places for improvement.
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Research Proposals
• First step in a research project
• Proposals help researchers to clarify
▪ Previous research literature
▪ Practical problems in conducting the research
▪ How the data will be analyzed
▪ Interpretation of the expected results
• Goal
▪ Ensure a reasonable experiment that will result in interpretable
findings with scientific merit
• Format
Introduction
Method
Expected Results and Proposed Data Analysis Plan
Conclusions
References
Appendix
Information for Institutional Review Board (IRB)
15
APA-Format Check
Find and correct the APA-format errors in the following sentences:
1. 20 students (10 women, 10 men) participated for course credit.
or Students (N = 20, 10 women, 10 men)...
2. Results indicated a statistically significant difference between treatment
and control groups for the dependent variable, t = 2.65, p = .01, d = 1.0.
3. In a previous study on this topic, researchers found that students who
wrote about adjusting to college earned better grades and had better
health than students who wrote about superficial topics.
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APA-Format References
Use the following information to write APA-format references for a
References section. Note that References are typed double-spaced in
manuscripts.
1. Authors: Christopher F. Chabris and Daniel Simons
Publisher: HarperCollins Location: New York, NY Year: 2010
Book Title: The Invisible Gorilla: How Our Intuitions Deceive Us
2. Author: Scott O. Lilienfeld
Article Title: Public Skepticism of Psychology: Why Many People
Perceive the Study of Human Behavior as Unscientific
Pages: 111-129 Doi: 10.1037/10023963
Journal Title: American Psychologist Year: 2012 Volume: 67
Answer:
3. Author: Tracy L. Tuten Year: 2010 Pages: 179-192
Chapter Title: Conducting Online Surveys
Book Editors: Samuel D. Gosling and John A. Johnson
Title: Advanced Methods for Conducting Online Behavioral Research
Publisher: American Psychological Association
Location: Washington, DC
Answer:
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A Few Common Grammatical Errors
Find and correct the grammatical errors in the following sentences:
1. The data was analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA).
2. Each participant completed their questionnaire in approximately 10 min.
3. The independent variable had an affect on behavior.
or The independent variable affected behavior.
4. Also, the second independent variable.
5. Participants responses in each condition were combined so that the total
number of participants’ in the analysis was 50.
